It is no secret that Kentucky has not had an ideal year and a half. They struggled in the season and ended up with defeat in only the second round of the NCAA tournament. Mark Pope was considered on the coaching hot seat multiple times during the season. Leading a school of Kentucky’s stature does come with a lot of challenges. And those challenges did not diminish during the off-season.
Mark Pope was often forced to look at his second options in the transfer portal. He had to deal with 4 of his top choices. Tyran Stokes chose Kansas, Donnie Freeman committed to St. John’s, Robert Wright III returned to BYU, and De’Shayne Montgomery joined the Wildcats’ biggest rivals, Louisville. Despite the struggles, the arrival of stars like Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Ousmane N’Diaye, Mason Williams, and Zyon Hawthrone has brought some hope back.
Mark Pope received a huge boost when his main man, Malachi Moreno, withdrew from the NBA draft and returned to Kentucky. However, there is still one player Pope is eagerly waiting for, and that is Milan Momcilovic. Moreover, analyst Jeff Goodman believes that Milan’s decision will decide Mark Pope’s future at Kentucky.
“I think Milan is ultimately the guy that changes, and honestly, he might be the guy. How about this? He might be the guy that ultimately decides whether or not Mark Pope is the coach in Lexington in two, three, four, five years,” Goodman said at 6:17.
It was then argued that Kentucky and Mark Pope might not be considering futures on that timeline. To which he changed his stance a little and cleared his point about how Milan Momcilovic’s arrival can be for Mark Pope.
“A year. Okay. A year. How’s that? A year. I’m just saying like if he gets him, Mark Pope could be the coach of Kentucky for a while. If he doesn’t get him, yes, we could have a new head coach in Lexington, Kentucky a year from now. I don’t think it’s crazy to overstate the importance of Mark Pope in Kentucky landing Milan Momcilovic,” he concluded.
Fans react to analyst’s claim about Mark Pope’s future with Kentucky
Fans did not seem overly fond of Mark Pope. After Goodman’s take, it seemingly didn’t matter for the fans if Milan came or not. Many were of the opinion that Pope’s departure being better for the Wildcats. Fans also doubted whether Milan would hold that much value.
“Pope is not meant to stay at Kentucky, the fans know it, just get the inevitable done now with Milan to Arizona now,” one fan claimed.
“UK has 66th ranked overall class for next year. Don’t think this is propelling them to a top 10 team,” another fan stated.
“He’s not that good to save Pope job,” one fan said.
“He not worth $5-6 million,” another said about Milan Momcilovic.
“Mark Pope is in charge of Mark Pope’s future. Don’t pin that on any one player,” another fan commented.
“With the most due respect to Milan – Kentucky will be terrible with or without him,” one fan claimed.
Read more:
AJ Dybantsa Denies NBA Draft Combine Measurement With Slick Response
Mark Pope Reportedly Keen to Revive BYU Tactics With New Role for Milan Momcilovic at Kentucky
College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in tennis, college football, men’s college basketball, women’s college basketball, and college baseball!
